The Glitch

Hailing from the same Denver scene as Breathe Carolina and 3OH!3, Nick Cocozzella and Bryce Hoops, aka Kill Paradise, make their hedonistic electro-pop counterparts sound like doom-laden killjoys with their third album, The Glitch. Despite claims that the follow-up to 2009's The Second Effect is a more mature affair, its ten tracks are still very much focused on glamorizing a carefree party lifestyle, whether it's the self-explanatory frat-boy anthem "Party with My Best Friends," the trashy Ke$ha-esque Euro-pop of "Bedroom Floor," or the Skrillex-lite "Forget the Queen, Save Us All," all of which are delivered in an early 2000s pop-punk vocal style more befitting a rebellious teenager obsessed with Good Charlotte and Sum 41. There are times when their bratty brand of synth pop could be mistaken for the work of X-Factor terrible-twosome Jedward, particularly on the Eurovision-style chorus and video-game bleeps of "Higher" and the Auto-Tuned trance-pop opener "Take Your Ego, But Not Where We Go" — not exactly the comparison they were perhaps looking for. But The Glitch is far more enticing when the duo calm down and start to act their age. "Singing Into Summer's Eyes" combines warm Deadmau5-esque layered synths with twangy acoustic hooks to produce a mellow slice of chill-out pop worthy of gracing the Balearic shores, "Favorites Die" is a surprisingly atmospheric lament about the downfall of their musical heroes, the Starting Line, while "Watch Me Fly" is a melancholic dubstep number which impressively ignores the genre's ubiquitous bass wobbles in favor of kaleidoscopic, lullaby-ish synths. It's a shame they appear reluctant to shed their juvenile persona, because when they do, The Glitch is a far more appealing listen and shows they have the potential to leapfrog their fellow neighboring party starters. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi